SPECIAL REPORT
Baltimore’s overdose crisis
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Baltimore reaches second opioid settlement with CVS on the eve of trial
The settlement brings the city’s total recoveries to $90 million.
As opioid deaths plague Baltimore, the city’s strategy is silence
Mayor Brandon Scott’s administration has opted to remain silent on the city’s response to overdose deaths as it navigates litigation with opioid makers and distributors.
$20M to pay lawyers: Where money from Baltimore’s opioid settlement will go
Questions abound about how the money will be used to combat overdoses.
Banner analysis: Inequality central to Baltimore’s unprecedented overdose crisis
Baltimore’s unprecedented overdose crisis has not been suffered equally. Neighborhoods with the highest overdose rates were often the same ones with the highest rates of poverty, a Banner analysis found.
Commentary: Here are solutions for Baltimore’s overdose crisis
City leaders, health care providers and law enforcement can work together to provide treatment, prevention and other strategies to confront Baltimore’s drug overdose crisis, directors of health and public innovation efforts at Johns Hopkins University say.
Strangers making small talk bonded over connection to overdose victim
One of the last people to see Devon Wellington alive, before he overdosed in 2021, has developed a relationship with the man’s mother. She taught him how to use Narcan, and they recently attended a street renaming event together.
An unprecedented epidemic: This is where people die of overdoses in Baltimore
A yearlong investigation recently published by The Baltimore Banner and The New York Times revealed an unprecedented overdose crisis gripping Baltimore.
Council will hold four hearings examining city’s response to overdoses
The Baltimore City Council will hold at least four oversight hearings examining the city’s response to its unprecedented overdose epidemic.
Letter: Something needs to be done about Baltimore’s overdose crisis immediately
Craig Lippens, president of the Maryland Addiction Directors Council, said treatment is key to addressing Baltimore’s opioid crisis but too many obstacles persist to offer more options.
A horrific number of older Black men are dying from overdoses in Baltimore
Many are dying from fentanyl and other drugs. The hardest-hit are Black men in their 50s to 70s, a group that Baltimore’s changing economy left behind.
Almost 6,000 dead in 6 years: How Baltimore became the U.S. overdose capital
The city was once hailed for its response to addiction. But as fentanyl flooded the streets and officials shifted priorities, deaths hit unprecedented heights.
City Council to examine city’s overdose response after Banner/Times report
Councilman Mark Conway plans to introduce legislation on Monday to convene a hearing in late June.
Seniors in Baltimore are being devastated by drugs: 5 takeaways
The city has become the U.S. overdose capital, and older Black men are dying at higher rates than anyone else.
Dr. Letitia Dzirasa, Baltimore’s top health official, to leave job next month
Deputy chief of staff J.D. Merrill will serve as Dzirasa’s interim replacement.
How to get naloxone — and how to use it
Naloxone is a medication that can reverse an opioid overdose.
Baltimore’s unprecedented overdose crisis: 5 takeaways
Nearly 6,000 people have died over the past six years — an unparalleled number among U.S. cities.
‘I love you in the sky, daddy’: Stories from Baltimore’s overdose crisis
Unprecedented overdose rates from fentanyl and other drugs have left signs of loss across the city.
Jaylon Ferguson made it from Louisiana to the Ravens. An overdose cut his legacy short.
The same drug that Jackie Ferguson had used to ease her mother’s pain had also taken her son Jaylon’s life.
Share your experience with drug addiction treatment programs, recovery homes in Maryland
Help us cover the response to Baltimore’s overdose crisis by sharing your experience.
About this project
The reporters examined Baltimore’s response to rising overdose deaths as part of The New York Times Local Investigations Fellowship.
Reporting by Alissa Zhu, Nick Thieme and Jessica Gallagher. Additional reporting by Cadence Quaranta, Emily Sullivan and Adam Willis, and Cheryl Phillips and Eric Sagara of Big Local News. Additional research by Susan C. Beachy and Kirsten Noyes.
Photography by Jessica Gallagher. Design and web production for The Baltimore Banner by Ryan Little, Emma Patti Harris and Zuri Berry. Audience, social and reader engagement by T.J. Ortenzi, Stokely Baksh and Krishna Sharma. Video and web production for The New York Times by Leo Dominguez, Rebecca Suner and Claire Hogan. Graphics by Molly Cook Escobar, Scott Reinhard and Nick Thieme.
Editing by The New York Times, Kimi Yoshino, Richard Martin, Ryan Little and Emma Patti Harris.
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